Valrico man, 31, faces child porn charges

A 31-year-old Valrico man was arrested Tuesday morning at his home, accused of 30 counts of possession of child pornography, authorities said.

Hillsborough County sheriff’s spokesman Larry McKinnon said a search warrant was executed at the home of Timothy Paul Heintzel, 2749 Abbey Grove Drive, at 7 a.m. after a month-long investigation by the Internet Predator Unit task force.

The search uncovered “a substantial amount of child pornography depicting children as young as 3 years old engaged in sexual activities or lewd positions on Heintzel’s computer,” McKinnon said.

“The Internet Predator Unit always is prowling the Web,” he said. “That’s what they do. They are online going into different areas where they know these individuals go.”

Heintzel, who told deputies he was a medical programmer with USF Health, remained jailed this afternoon. Bail was set at $225,000.